In a world where online sports betting has become a major phenomenon, an app called SportsHero has started to gain attention as a social sports prediction platform to the tune of $2.4 million.
The Singapore-based developer MyHero has already found success in its stock trading app TradeHero and is confident the new SportsHero will do the same. Australia-based company Nevada Iron has been a huge helping hand in the $2.4 million startup investment.
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SportsHero, originally FootballHero, has made it so users can predict, interact and compete in the sports of soccer and baseball, and hope to soon expand to basketball, tennis, hockey, cricket and more. The already 250,000 FootballHero users will automatically be transferred over to the new app.
So how does it work exactly?
SportsHero allows sports fans to make predictions on the outcome of games by communicating and following other users to obtain as much information as possible before making their bet. While the wages will be placed with virtual currency, users can make real money by getting others to subscribe to their “tips” for $2 a month. That revenue is then split 50-50 between SportsHero and the user.
Most popular Matches for the week! Make your predictions on #FootballHeroApp.More info here: http://t.co/AHhOxdtCI8 pic.twitter.com/TfSOymq6E2
— Football Hero (@footballheroapp) October 2, 2015
Dinesh Bhatia, the CEO and co-founder of SportsHero, said, “We have seen very promising success and engagement with TradeHero in gamifying financial learning and stock trading, driven by community engagement. There’s a very strong correlation between finance and sports – we saw the opportunity to replicate this success with SportsHero, tapping into the fast growing Asian and global e-sports markets. The vision is to be the number one social network dedicated to sports in the world. We will do this by helping fans and brands monetize their passion for sports through SportsHero.”
The plan for SportsHero’s success and growth is backed with the rise in sports prediction and global eSports market around the globe, especially in Asia. According to Forrester’s estimate, smartphone usage in the Asia Pacific will double from one billion to two by 2019.